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Gloucester play Hartpury and Scarlets next Friday at Kingsholm to mark Sharples’ testimonial year and head coach Johan Ackermann said he won’t be rushed back with the first Premiership game against Exeter a week later.

“Charlie maybe got a slight hammy but the rest of the guys are just bumps and bruises, nothing serious,” said Ackermann.

Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann ahead of the Bank of Ireland Pre-season Friendly match between Leinster and Gloucester at St Mary's RFC in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

“It’s a long season ahead. I’m not a big fan of risking a player if he’s not 100 per cent fit, particularly if it’s not a knockout game and a must-win game. We’ve got the whole season left.”

Gloucester were without Richard Hibbard, Mariano Galarza, Gareth Evans, Tom Marshall, Motu Matu’u, Paddy McAllister, Ben Morgan, Jacob Rowan and Jason Woodward but Ackermann hinted that some of them will be involved in the double header at Kingsholm.

“There are a lot of guys just returning from injuries,” he said.

“There’s a fine line between getting over excited and playing a guy just as he comes out of injury.

“We trust the medical staff and they feel just another week will have helped on a lot of those players so we’ve still got another game to let those guys have a run out so it’s not worth risking them.”